Groups linked to Booker, Cerf received nearly one-third of first $13M of Facebook donation to Newark schools
Published: Thursday, October 27, 2011, 6:30 AM Updated: Thursday, October 27, 2011, 6:50 AM
Newark Mayor Cory Booker and acting Commissioner of Education Chris Cerf, shown in this January 2011 file photo. One of every three dollars of private money spent so far in Newark's bid to reform its schools has gone to consultants and contractors, many with ties to Booker and Cerf, records show.NEWARK — One of every three dollars of private money spent so far in Newark’s bid to reform its schools has gone to consultants and contractors, many with ties to Mayor Cory Booker and acting state Education Commissioner Chris Cerf, records show.
The records, from the state Department of Education, are part of a spate of e-mails obtained by the Newark-based Education Law Center. They detail for the first time how the Foundation for Newark’s Future has spent the first $13 million of the $148 million donated by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and other philanthropists to help turn around the city’s struggling public school system.
While the foundation — the group created to distribute the money — spent $7.4 million between January and September of this